Normally, high school sports teams are able to adjust when a starter is out of the lineup.

But when the sport is tennis and the starter is your No. 1 singles player, it can be a problem.

That’s what happened with the Albert Lea High School boys’ tennis team Monday in a 6-1 loss to Waseca on the Southwest Middle School courts.

Playing without senior Matt Entorf, their usual No. 1 singles man, the Tigers’ other singles players each had to move up a spot.

&uot;It’s really tough to gauge how well we did with everyone moving up like that,&uot; said Tigers coach Sean Gillam. &uot;I’m sure we would have done a lot better with Matt in there.&uot;

Freshman Conner Keyeski was the lone singles player to win a game, falling 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3. Adam Luebke was at No. 2, Paul Marlin No. 2 and George Viorescu &045; a German exchange student &045; was at No. 4.

The win was at No. 3 doubles by eighth-graders Andrew Dyrdal and Greg Peterson, who prevailed 6-1, 6-4. John Mattson and Matt Wulff lost 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles while Kurtis Bohrnstedt and Stephen Thorn fell 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2.

The Tigers play at Faribault today.